Abbie’s scared of heights - but will skydive for charity

Sue Kirby

A brave teenager from South Tyneside is taking a leap of faith to raise cash on behalf of her aunts.

Abbie Radford, 17, is scared of heights will be doing a skydive this month to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK and awareness of the condition.

Abbie Radford (centre) is to skydive for Muscular Dystrophy UK in honour of her two aunts, Laura Bracewell (l) and Lynn Mills.

Abbie, who lives in Wenlock Road, South Shields, will be heading to Shotton Airfield for the skydive on Sunday, February 26.

Muscular Dystrophy is a condition close to the hearts of Abbie and her family.

Two of her aunts, Lynn Mills, 43, and Laura Bracewell, 31, both suffer from the muscle wasting condition.

The teenager, who is a student at Gateshead College, said the condition is genetic and although there are blood tests to determine if someone has it, a lot of her family members have decided not to have it so they are not spending their lives worrying and waiting for symptoms to develop.

I am petrified of heights so I’m hoping this will help me get over my fear

Abbie Radforth

Abbie said her Aunt Lynn was diagnosed around 15 years ago and her mobility has slowly declined since then and her Aunt Laura was diagnosed more recently.

She said: “I am so proud of both of them the way they deal with it. You never hear them complain about it.

“I decided to do the skydive to raise money because of them. I am petrified of heights so I’m hoping this will help me get over my fear.

“I am getting scared now, but I really want to do it.

“This is not only to raise awareness about MD, but also for my two aunties that have to struggle with it everyday.”

Muscular Dystrophy UK is the charity for the 70,000 people living with muscle-wasting conditions in the UK and Abbie is hoping as many people as possible will sponsor her for such as good cause.

She said: “I’m not sure if I want to have the test done, you wonder how you would cope with it.

“It is a scary thing to deal with, some people end up using a wheelchair for the rest of their lives.”

To support Abbie in her skydive visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Abbie-Radford2 to make a donation.